"This can't be!" Donatello said, as he knelt down in front of his sister's lifeless and beheaded body, tears drooling from his eyes. His wails of emotional agony echoed through much of the city. But he was not the only one that sobbed uncontrollably. The other three turtles were immersed in guilt, sorrow, and the ultimate feelings of loss... those feelings tore at their souls, flooding their whole being with sorrowful trembling.
Darkness did not withhold itself. Their minds where set on what had happened, but they were too weak from shock to do anything about it just yet. The darkness of the early morning reflected the darkness within... and it would never leave them until as long as they lived.
"WHO THE HELL DID THIS!" Raphael wailed, pounding his fists against the brickwall of the building they were next to. Breaking into hysteric sobs, Michelangelo embraced Raphael, and they sunk down the wall and unto the ground, clutching each other for support. But the answer would not come anytime soon: the WHO or WHY would not be answered soon enough. The hours would melt them like chocolate held to an open flame. The fury of guilt, the guilt that they had not been there to save here. The hate driven by that fury; it sickened them so much to see Venus' corpse. And not just the fact that she was dead, but the fact that she had been killed in such a way. Her head lay a couple of feet from her body, its eyes staring off into the nothingness of the night sky, glazed over like foggy glass.
Leonardo knelt down beside Donatello, his face contorted in rage, sadness, and shock. Reaching up behind his head, he tore off his blue bandana, as an anguished rabbi would have torn his robes down the center. Taking it in his hands, her ripped it to pieces, letting vicious growls escape from between his teeth. The pieces of cloth drifted down on Venus' body, in honor of the life that she had lived. "All of you... do the same as I have done. Now." Leonardo said, reaching over and closing the eyes of his sister's head, as to make it official that they would never open again.
More pieces of bandanas came down... purple, orange, and red. The rays of the first lights of dawn streaked through some of the street they where on... giving them the signal to subside and go back to the sewers. They had come out, looking for their sister, who never stayed out as late as she had... but it was to not fault of her own. An hour ago, little did they know their sister had been slaughtered. Now they knew... now they were hurting on the inside.
"Come on." said Leonardo, picking up the head of his sister and beginning to walk back toward the direction of home. Raph, Mikey, and Don picked up her body, slowely but surely following Leo. They would not remember the trip back. Their vision was blurred by tears. Some of those tears were fresh, some of them were drying and evaporating. No words were exchanged between them... as if the grim reality of what had happened, took on a persona, and had clutched each of their throats, particially choking them so they could not speak, and so that they could barely breath.
They opened the circular lid to the sewers, climbed down with a little trouble, because of their baggage. When they landed on the inside, another scene met their eyes. Their home had been torn about---shattered stone from the walls had come down in large chunks; all the furniture had been ripped and mutilated to shreds; most everything was overturned... most everything was damaged. A thick dust was in the air, like a hellish fog giving bad omens that this day would not be a blessing to them. The dust mixed with their tears, turning it all into mud on their faces. Mud that had to make them squint... to see what had become of their home. To see the intruder that had done all of this. And then the truth layed itself on them, and they came to realize that Splinter was nowhere in sight. Perhaps he was under the rubble?
"My sons! Take out your weapons quickly!" his voice came from nearby. Splinter's voice was weak, and they could instantly tell that he was in much pain. Crouched in a corner, he was all but camoflouged with all the dust in the air... at least he was alive. At least he hadn't been killed like Venus had.
Donetello, Michelangelo, and Raphael, turned the couch back upright, and they layed Venus' body on it, reaching for their weapons. "Master! What happened?" asked Leonardo, going to help his master up to his feet.
"COME NO CLOSER!" Splinter called. A sword blade came into view in front of Leonardo's face, and only thanks to his quick reflexes, did he retreat his head back into his shell. Coming back to the surface, Leonardo took out both of his own swords, and made a dash for the enemy, who was still hidden by the clouds of thick dust in the air. Seeing only a shadowy image of him, Leonardo clashed blades with the enemy... once... twice... three times. A few moments passed. Their blades met again, sending metallic ringing through the sewer room.
The other three turtles, their weapons out, split up and made their way in the direction of the fight. The clashing of blades began to be a constant thing, as Leonardo fought the heated battle with the enemy that had killed their sister and destroyed their home. Raphael could now see the figure Leo was fighting... he was sure it was the one they were after. Crouching down and then springing up into the air, Raphael landed next to the shadowy figure, and then the fight became one versus two.
"Now now, Let's not get too sure of ourselves. Fighting in this room is a tad more dangerous, is it not? I really made it into one big trap, considering the debree and all the dust." Came the voice of the enemy. His katanas kept blocking the way of Raph's and Leo's blades.
Leonardo did a spin, gathering momentum, and then hit the enemies' blades full force with his own, sending a shockwave into their hands, making them both grimace. "You won't leave here alive! After what you have done, you will receive no mercy from me!"
"Who are you, anyway?" asked Raphael, stabbing in the direction of the attacker. 'Cling! Clang!'
"My name... is Plato. I have no last name. I am just simply called Plato." their attacker said; he then managed to knock Raph's right Sai out of his hand; it clanged on the stone floor. For a split second, Raphael turned his attention to his fallen Sai, in which time Plato slashed him under the eye with his katana blade. The cut was deep, and blood squirted from the open wound, as Raphael grunted and picked up his Sai, trying to block out the pain. Leonardo, who was beside him, was panting, loosing breath from the duel that had been going on for several minutes straight. Plato, however, seemed to be enjoying himself.
Little did any of them know that Michelangelo and Donatello had been coming up from behind Plato... but they were fast and quiet. Don raised his staff and smacked Plato on the back of the head, full-force and with great strength. There was a small 'crack!', and Plato let out a strangled yell, turning around and slicing Don's staff down the middle.
With Plato's back exposed, Raphael lunged forward and stabbed both Seis into Plato... "WHAT! He has a shell!" Raphael cried, as Leonardo's right sliced Plato's arm clean open, his left blade coming down straight on his shoulder. With three wounds coming at the same time, Plato let out an agonizing scream of pain. Leonardo ripped his left blade from Plato's shoulder, raising up his foot and kicking his enemy to the ground. This time the 'crack!' was large, as Plato's head hit the stone floor.
A ray of sunlight suddenly streamed into the sewer room from a crack in the ceiling above. The morning was well on its way. The sunlight illuminated the form on the ground, the form that was their enemy. They gathered around, and gasped, as they saw that it was another turtle, much like them. Except that he was much paller, and his bandana was a faded black. Blood gushed from his arm and several places on his head, his breathing becoming labored and forced. All too shocked to do anything yet, Plato looked up at them, a smile crossing his creased mouth.
Without warning, he stretched his leaped from the floor, and hit Michelangelo head-on, sending them both hurling through the air. They both landed behind the couch several yards away, out of sight from the other. Suddenly, there was a disturbing, chilling, and terrifying shriek from behind the house... the shriek belonged to Michelangelo. The other three ran from the area behind the couch that Plato had tackled him.
"NO!" Leonardo called out, as they came to Michelangelo, who was laying on the floor shuddering uncontrollably. Plato had slipped from the scene: he was gone. He had left Mikey there... and something terrible had happened to their brother.
Mikey had his face covered with his hands. It took much prying from Raphael before he would take his hands from his face... but when he did, the other three turtles let out a horrified gasp. Blood drooled from both of his eye sockets. Michelangelo's eyes had been ripped out.